It takes a delicate touch to make job cuts sound more palatable. As U.S. companies reduce payrolls by the thousands, the press releases seem to be getting more and more creative.
Check out today’s announcement from The Reader’s Digest Association, which is eliminating 8 percent of its global workforce and suspending matching contributions to employees’ 401(k) retirement accounts. Somehow it stings a bit less when you tell employees that it’s all part of a ”Recession Plan” right?
“We have announced a comprehensive ‘Recession Plan’, which is our internal roadmap for dealing with the extraordinary effects of this recession on consumer spending,” Mary Berner, president and CEO, said in a statement.
Then there was Caterpillar, which said earlier this week that it would “remove” 20,000 workers as it executes “strategic ‘trough’ plans”.
Reader’s Digest spokesman William Adler said the language wasn’t intended to try to soften the blow of something as traumatic as losing a job.
